Rumor Patrol: Darren Aronofsky is Still Directing Robocop

A mountain got made out of a molehill recently when CHUD‘s Devin Faraci sparked a wild rumor that director Darren Aronofsky (Requiem For A Dream) might be off the Robocop remake that MGM currently has in production.

Well Ain’t It Cool News is playing rumor-killer today: AICN has gotten in touch with Aronofsky himself, who answered the rumor by stating, “No, still on it.”

Guess we can chalk this rumor up to another example of what happens when bloggers get too eager.

This is how the whole ‘Aronofsky off of Robocop‘ rumor started: Faraci saw a video that was shot recently at the Edinburgh Film Festival; during a Q&A with Aronofsky, one crowd member raised a question about the Robocop remake and Aronofsky (a seasoned veteran of film, remember) responded by seeming ignorant of such rumors, or even what “Robocop” was.

Now, I could tell you that Aronofsky was simply displaying some dismissive wit to an aggressive fan- but then I’d be accused of exploiting 20/20 hindsight. Instead, I leave it up to you the reader: below is the footage of the Q&A with Aronofsky – at about 3:45 into it he gets the Robocop question. Watch his reaction and tell me if you have any “confusion” about whether it was genuine or not:

Wow… How did that brief moment get turned into such a big rumor so quickly? Seriously, it seems like people sometimes need just half a syllable out of a celebrity’s mouth before they go running wild with speculation. Thankfully the blogosphere is pretty good about policing its own (take it from somebody who has both done the policing and felt the long arm of blogging law), so kudos to Harry over at AICN for getting the story straight.

I grown up with Robocop too, i loved the first film. and and Robocop 2 in the 2nd film was just as badass as ED-209 was. Robocop 3 was ok, only thing i liked was his flight-pack and arsenal. does anyone know if they’re doin a remake, or sequel?

I’m excited to finally be able to see a remake on RoboCop. I don’t know the whole story or remember it much since I was a small child when the original movies came out. I remember watching clips of it while my parents watched it. I thought that the movie always had a good concept, the only problem was that the movie was released long before the world was ready for that type of movie. In other words, the technology just wasn’t advanced enough at the time. But now it could be done, and ofcourse if the director is good and he has a vision then this movie will have a lot of potential to be a big office hit.

this is a huge mistake. no more robocop movie. the makers of this movie should be ashamed & embarrased at making such a low budget movie, i saw this movie and it made me sick to watch such terrible performance’s from the actor’s. this was not a well made movie, the acting stink’s and the action was boring. directing for this movie was very sad & tired. the movie was a flop. booooooooooooooooring. please do not make another robocop movie. leave this character to die and don’t bring him back, robocop is a huge disappoinment.

As you say, Kofi, it’s easy to employ hindsight, but Mr Faraci needs to look at body language (and common sense) a bit more closely. Unless he’s just a rabid rumourmonger I reckon it wouldn’t be too difficult to cane him at poker.

Robocop always struck me as a low-rent ripoff of Judge Dredd. I’d be up for any kind of reworking as long as they do something more imaginative with his clunky “tin man” bodywork. Aronofsky’s an odd choice, no question, but I’m fascinated to see what he does with it.

As you say, Kofi, it’s easy to employ hindsight, but Mr Faraci needs to look at body language (and common sense) a bit more extensively. If he’s not just a rabid rumourmonger, I reckon he’d be pretty easy to cane at poker.

Robocop always struck me as a low-rent Judge Dredd ripoff. I’d be up for any kind of reworking as long as they do something more imaginative with his clunky “tin man” chassis. Aronofsky’s an odd choice, no question, but I’m fascinated to see what he does with it.

Ok, I was very worried about the Robocop remake, but that poster does a lot to dispel my fears. The gridwork background and neon lettering are pure 80s, and VERY cyberpunk, which are very positive signs that at least in terms of visual language this project has an understanding of the source material.

The timeliness of it could not be better, either. With the current economic meltdown and class anger at the corporate world, a movie that carries the dark, deeply cynical and brutally satirical edge that the original had would resonate brilliantly.

If the movie looks like that poster, and is dark and edgy and keeps to the cyberpunk themes, it could be nothing short of amazing.

Dear Sir,
Keep going with Robocop,but please make it reborn from ash.
Olso why not creating a new season episodes?
TRy to make something new in order to make kids more interested about.
As they nowadays, like more computergames,as:
word of the world craft or tomb rider,and so on …
TRY to find out what they want,and also people…because some of them think that it will a fake…
SO prove taht will not be so.
I trust in u sir Darren Aronofsky that you are going to bring Robocop to a high value.